PowerTip: Use PowerShell to Read Registry Key Property Value
Doctor Scripto
Summary: Use Windows PowerShell to read a registry key property value.
How can I use Windows PowerShell to read a registry key property value so I can find the version of a particular software package?
Use the Get-ItemProperty cmdlet, for example:
Get-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\ScriptingGuys\Scripts -Name version
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This may resturn better results depending on the property
Get-ItemPropertyProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\ScriptingGuys\Scripts -Name version
As an example I was looking for a correct Windows Build number which at first should be
[System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version
The issue I had was with Windows returning a 0 for revision on the Revision property when I knew I had installed service packs that should have updated the build.
In my case I found that the Registry Key “HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\” Ccontained much more information including a UBR value, which appears to be the revision number for the build. To Duplicate the output of the [System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version I came up with teh following:
$WindowsVersion = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
$WindowsVersion | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Major -Value $(Get-ItemPropertyValue -Path ‘HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion’ -Name CurrentMajorVersionNumber)
$WindowsVersion | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Minor -Value $(Get-ItemPropertyValue -Path ‘HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion’ -Name CurrentMinorVersionNumber)
$WindowsVersion | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Build -Value $(Get-ItemPropertyValue -Path ‘HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion’ -Name CurrentBuild)
$WindowsVersion | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Revision -Value $(Get-ItemPropertyValue -Path ‘HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion’ -Name UBR)
$WindowsVersion
Which returns the correct results
This may resturn better results depending on the property
Get-ItemPropertyProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\ScriptingGuys\Scripts -Name version
As an example I was looking for a correct Windows Build number which at first should be
[System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version
The issue I had was with Windows returning a 0 for revision on the Revision property when I knew I had installed service packs that should have updated the build.
In my case I found that the Registry Key “HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\” Ccontained much more information including a UBR value, which appears to be the revision number for the build. To Duplicate the output of the [System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version I came up with the following:
$WindowsVersion = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
$WindowsVersion | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Major -Value $(Get-ItemPropertyValue -Path ‘HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion’ -Name CurrentMajorVersionNumber)
$WindowsVersion | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Minor -Value $(Get-ItemPropertyValue -Path ‘HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion’ -Name CurrentMinorVersionNumber)
$WindowsVersion | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Build -Value $(Get-ItemPropertyValue -Path ‘HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion’ -Name CurrentBuild)
$WindowsVersion | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Revision -Value $(Get-ItemPropertyValue -Path ‘HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion’ -Name UBR)
$WindowsVersion
Which returns the correct results